Chapter 9.

Jemma wasn't sleeping, just lying down resting. Her mind was in a complete whirl. May had simply said that Agent Barton was temporarily assigned to the team, but what did that mean? Was it only for this mission, to escort Thor's girlfriend to New York? Was she ever going to even see Clint again after tomorrow?

A light tap came at her cubicle door, and she sighed and stood.

"No, Fitz, I'm not sneaking back down to the lab – oh," as the door finished sliding open to reveal Clint standing there. He'd removed his tac vest and now wore just a sleeveless black T-shirt and black combat pants. His feet were bare.

"I'm glad to hear it," he murmured.

Jemma blushed bright red. She couldn't seem to think of anything to say or do, just froze in place, scarlet-cheeked. She'd been thinking how unreal the morning seemed, how, if she couldn't still feel the ache between her thighs, she might have imagined the whole thing.

"May I come in?" Clint asked after a moment.

"Oh. Yes." She moved back, letting him in, and he closed the door, turned and put a hand to her arm, drawing her to sit down beside him on the bed. She held herself stiff, unnerved.

"Clint, I…"

"Jemma…"

They spoke at the same time. "You first," Jemma said quickly. Oh, God, he was going to say it was all a mistake. If he apologised for giving her the best sex of her life, she was going to smack him.

"Jemma, I think I rushed you," Clint said.

"What?" she'd been prepared to get angry at him, but she hadn't expected that. Or the way he was looking at her, an expression of gentle concern on his face.

"I'm not going to say I didn't want you, or that it was a mistake to make love to you, and I'm not going to say that it wasn't the best sex of my life, because any of those things would be bullshit. But I do think I rushed you into it, and made things awkward, and I didn't want that for us."

Jemma sat with her mouth open for a long moment, and finally she managed to get her thoughts into some sort of order and gave him a shy smile. "It was that good for you, too?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" a smile curved his sensual lips. "You were amazing, and if we hadn't been ordered to get some rest I'd be begging you for round three right about now."

Jemma giggled through her fingers, suddenly feeling a lot lighter and happier. "I'd be saying yes."

"Good," he smiled, and then nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Lie down with me, then? It really is likely to be a long night, we should rest while we can."

Jemma nodded eagerly, and Clint lay back on her bed, pulling her back against him. She curled into the curve of his body, fitting beautifully against him, her head tucking perfectly under his chin. Her ass on his thighs was definitely disturbing, but she'd drained him pretty well earlier. Clint put his arm around Jemma's waist and closed his eyes.

She really hadn't expected to fall asleep, but he was so warm, his breathing slow and comforting against the back of her neck. Jemma drifted off feeling impossibly safe and protected.

She woke with his hand in her knickers. Clint was tracing circles around her clit, spreading wetness as his other hand caressed her breast. He'd unbuttoned her shirt and released her bra, pushed it out of the way so he could tease and roll her nipples in his fingers. She was lying beside him, his hands all over her, doing as he wanted with her.

"Oh, my God," Jemma whimpered. "Yes. Please."

"Come for me, angel," he murmured, licking delicately at her earlobe and then nipping it lightly. "I want to feel you tight round my fingers. I wanna hear that noise you make…"

"Clint," it was a low keen of his name as she shuddered, and he smiled, well pleased.

"Good girl," he praised softly, "there's my good girl, Jemma. You're so gorgeous when you come." He eased to lie down beside her and took his hand from her, licking his fingers deliberately. "And I fucking adore the way you taste. I can't wait until I can take my time with you. Lick you out until you can't come any more, until I've got your juices all over my face."

"You have such a filthy mouth," Jemma panted, still coming down from that ridiculously quick high he'd pushed her to.

"You like it, don't you?" he kissed her hungrily. "There's a passionate woman hiding under that prim exterior, I always suspected it. I'm very glad I was right about you." He eased from her bed, standing up. "I gotta go, if you don't want everyone to find out about us yet." He paused. Waiting.

"I…" It really wasn't fair for him to ask her that right after giving her such an amazing orgasm. "Not yet," she said finally. I'd feel kind of slutty if they knew I fell into bed with you so fast, she didn't say, but suspected he guessed what she was thinking.

"Whatever you want, Jemma." Clint stood still by the door for a long moment, eyes raking over her. "But don't think you can keep me as your dirty little secret. Even if you don't want your friends to know we're sleeping together yet, I'm going to make it blatantly obvious that I'm hitting on you." And he was gone.

"Oh, God," Jemma flopped back on her bed, hand over her eyes. What did blatantly obvious mean? She had the awful feeling that this was going to be really embarrassing.

"We'll be landing in fifteen minutes," May's voice said crisply over the intercom. "Dress casual. It's hot down there in the desert and there'll be a lot of work to do."

Sighing, Jemma got out of bed and opened her small wardrobe. Tailored shorts and a plain T-shirt would have to do. She didn't have any more casual than that.

Dr. Foster's lab turned out to be a former car dealership on the outskirts of a very tiny, dusty town. No one turned a hair at a gigantic black plane vertically landing in the desert, which told Jemma that the townspeople here had already seen way too much weird shit. She followed May and Clint down the ramp and into the small lab, expecting to find a mess of equipment and mad scientists.

Instead, a pretty young dark-haired woman was competently nailing down the lid on one of a long row of packing crates, checking it off on a list attached to a clipboard when she was done. There was no one else present.

"Miss Lewis?" May said. The young woman jumped.

"Oh! Hi! You must be Agent May? Yes, I'm Darcy Lewis."

"Where's Dr. Foster, Darce?" Clint asked.

"On the roof, Hawkass." Darcy had obviously met Clint before, and was clearly quite comfortable with him, as she put down her hammer and came walking over, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Jane said she wanted to see one last sunset."

"Of course." May and Clint glanced at each other, and then she headed for the ladder Jemma could see at the back of the dealership. Clint looked back at Darcy.

"Anything we can help you with, Darce?"

"I got it pretty well under control, I think," she looked around. "Oh, except that one." She gestured rather sheepishly at a large machine. "Couldn't get it off the table."

"It's bolted down," Fitz looked quickly under the machine. "Hang on. I'll get a spanner." He hurried back towards the plane.

"Clint?" came a voice from above. Jemma looked back towards the ladder to see a tiny, beautiful brunette clambering down. "It is you! What are you doing here?" She hurried over and threw her arms around him, and he laughed, lifting her off her feet for a tight hug.

"What d'you think, Jane? Like Thor would trust your safety to just anyone."

"Of course," she said, and then let out a very inelegant snort. "The big lug. I don't know what he thinks is going to happen to me."

"Something he might not like. And we don't like making Thor angry. He's about as good at smashing things as Bruce."

Jane laughed, patted Clint's cheek fondly, and then let out a shout. "Don't you dare touch that!"

Fitz froze in the middle of unfastening the first bolt. "Er – it needs to be disassembled for transport, Dr. Foster, ma'am?"

"Huh," she walked over, snatched the wrench from his hand, and applied it herself. "Very delicate equipment – jackbooted thugs…" she started muttering to herself.

"Uh, Jane, let me introduce you," Clint said, suppressing laughter as Fitz stared at her wide-eyed. "This is Agent Leo Fitz."

"Wait," Jane stopped in the middle of unfastening the last bolt. "I've heard of you!"

"You have?" Fitz gulped nervously. "Really? Is it one of my inventions you've heard of?"

"No. It was Lady Sif, actually. She said she was impressed by you, that you were very clever."

The silence in the lab was broken by the thud of Fitz's body hitting the floor in a dead faint.

"Was it something I said?" Jane asked after a moment.

Hehehe, just couldn't resist. Fitz does get crushes on women who are way out of his league, doesn't he? Poor kid. I might have to let Darcy take care of him…